Rob Edwards’ Luton Town moved out of the relegation zone without so much as kicking a football throughout the international break, as Everton’s ten-point deduction cast the Toffees into the bottom three. The Hatters would seek to put further distance between themselves and the drop zone on Saturday as they welcomed Crystal Palace to Kenilworth Road.
LUT: Kaminski; Osho, Lockyer, Mengi; Bell, Barkley, Mpanzu, Doughty; Ogden, Townsend; Morris
CRY: Johnstone; Mitchell, Guéhi, Andersen, Ward; Lerma, Doucouré; Schlupp, Eze, Olise, Édouard
Odsonne Édouard’s disallowed goal was the defining moment of the first half, with the Frenchman seeing his opener disallowed after a deflection from Luton Town’s Tom Lockyer thrust the ball against his hand.
An otherwise tame first half gave way at the interval, with an action-packed final period seeing Teden Mengi fire the Hatters into the lead after 72 minutes – smashing home a loose ball from a corner to put Rob Edwards’ side in a commanding position.
Their lead lasted just two minutes though, as Michael Olise displayed extraordinary skill to dart inside and curl an effort past Thomas Kaminski to restore parity. Having already seen Eberechi Eze and Cheick Doucoure forced off through injury, drawing level was a relief to Roy Hodgson and the travelling Palace fans.
But less than ten minutes later, it was Scotland’s Jacob Brown that arrived inside the box to restore Luton Town’s advantage – turning Chiedozie Ogbene’s pass into the back of the net and ensuring the Hatters move four points clear of the drop zone.
Embed from Getty ImagesLuton Town will travel to Brentford’s Gtech Community Stadium next weekend as they look to build upon the positive momentum, while Crystal Palace will be keen to return to winning ways when they make the trip through the capital to West Ham United’s London Stadium.
